At Home

Catty at the cottage

The blunt truth about kitchen dos and don'ts, as revealed by two designers

Don't spend a mint: The custom cabinets in this kitchen were spray-painted and installed for less than $6,000 by Cartier Kitchens.

Photograph by: Virginia Macdonald
, National Post

Whenever possible, I try to avoid extensive kitchen renovations, especially when it comes to cottages.

Let's face it, the cost of a kitchen reno can be close to the price of a cottage.

But sometimes a kitchen reno is just unavoidable. This was certainly the case for the 40-year-old cottage kitchen we renovated for HGTV's Summer Home.

To update this '70s kitchen, I worked with designer Laura Fowler (lauralynnfowler.com), the unsung hero responsible for overseeing many of the designs you see on HGTV.

When Ms. Fowler and I get together, it's non-stop design talk. Like most designers, we can spot a decorating faux pas in a millisecond. If you were a fly on the wall, you'd want to send us to bed without supper. The conversation can get catty and heated, but we both believe if you're going to spend your hard-earned dollars on a reno, than you should get your design right.

For example, it drives us both crazy when new kitchens have a 12-inch gap between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling. "Fill them in," says Laura.

Cabinets look built-in when they extend to the ceiling. There's no reason to suffer with a dust-bunny-collecting space, nor the cluttered look of baskets and books. Plus, the custom look is easy to get - even big-box stores sell filler.

Speaking of custom kitchens, you don't always have to take out a second mortgage to get one. The custom cabinets in this kitchen were spraypainted and installed for less than $6,000 by Cartier Kitchens (cartierkitchens.com).

The Ajax-based company offers multiple tiers of pricing and a wide range of styles, colours and material, from MDF to solid wood. When pulling together your cabinetry plan, remember to gable the fridge. "Inexpensive stainless steel fridges have black bodies - they're not meant to be seen," Laura says. These small details will give you a luxe look.

A fridge butted against the stove does not look luxe. Moreover, the heat from the stove can force your fridge to work harder, decreasing energy efficiency. In the kitchen above, we removed a cabinet under the stairs to make room for the fridge.

To make up the lost storage, Cartier Kitchens suggested we double the size of the peninsula by adding cabinets to the work side and the public side of the kitchen. The large peninsula not only has double the storage space, but also double the work and serving space.

We're also big believers in using the same type of flooring throughout an open-concept space or keeping different flooring materials like ceramic, vinyl and wood, the same colour. This is especially true when you're short on space. High-contrast flooring like white ceramic tile in the kitchen and dark hardwood in the living and dining area will make your open-concept space look smaller and choppy. It's the same concept as monochromatic dressing for petite people. As a stylist once told me, "Honey, don't wear high contrast colours or thick belts unless you want to look like a shrimp." A catty thing to say, but ever so true.

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